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Saturday, February 22, 2014

Mark your calendars!

American Craft Beer Week® is just around the corner! May 12-18, 2014

For the ninth consecutive year, the Brewers Association has declared American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) a celebration of U.S. craft brewers. From May 12–May 18, beer lovers everywhere will celebrate the craft beer revolution via hundreds of events that showcase the innovative and economic contributions of today’s small and independent brewers. Across all 50 states, craft breweries, brewpubs and retail partners, will host exclusive brewery tours, special beer releases, multi-course pairing dinners, collaboration beers, retail promotions and much more.

Where will events be held, you ask? Here. There. Everywhere.Visit the official American Craft Beer Week events calendar, hosted by CraftBeer.com, for a full – and growing – list of local celebrations in all 50 states.

With more than 2,700 craft breweries and hundreds more popping up across the country every year, the observance of ACBW is more relevant than ever. It’s a time to both honor and celebrate the art and tradition of small brewers.

ACBW gives beer beginners, beer enthusiasts and beer geeks in all 50 states the chance to share the renaissance of flavorful, appealing, world-class craft beer produced by American small businesses—the backbone of this country. For the last three years, ACBW was celebrated by breweries, brewpubs and retailers in all 50 states. Last year, more than 55,000 beer lovers were part of the Facebook community and the hashtag #ACBW was used more than 26,000 times in the month leading up to and during the week. With the continued interest in and growing popularity of craft beer, this year’s event is expected to be bigger and better than ever before.

Thursday, February 20, 2014

I get asked, "What kind of beer should I order?" a lot. This is an easy question for me to answer... With a question... What do you like? With some effort, I can almost ALWAYS come up with a beer for you to try.

Rum is as varied as Craft Beer and people often don’t know what they like. Everyone has had a beer, but how many people have had a glass of good rum?

Not unlike #CraftBeer, if someone tells me they don’t like rum, I just say “You just haven’t found a rum you like.”

Now, I don’t know if you follow us on Instagram, (If you don't, you should!) but that is where I was asked what rum to try next.

WHEW! That’s a BIG Question, and a timely one at that! Especially given that Rum Bahamas festival starts in 2 days. So, simply put, just go to the Bahamas and find out! No

Ben, aka @Hopperbolic on the Twitter and Instagram is just getting into rum. He is a BIG fan of Craft Beer and often makes me drool on my shirt with the picks he posts. If you don’t follow him, you should! And don't forget his "Significant Other" @TravelingTricia But what to recommend?

Saturday, February 15, 2014

We are all suffering through the cold and snow, pretty much anywhere you look people are complaining about the cold... Unless you look to the south of Florida, and even they are starting to consider socks!

I formed my dream of retiring on a boat about a week after taking my first real job. The unfortunate part, is that I never took that dream seriously. I always figured it was just out of reach and something I could talk about for the rest of my life. Had I started, any time in the last 15 years, I could probably be writing about fishing instead of books written by people who are fishing.

I wish I had read this book 10 years ago! Ed Covers everything from how to save money (A must if you are going to live without a job) all the way to the more intense details of living on a boat.
There is no enlightening magic formulas or secrets. There is nothing but common sense put into words in this book.
Ed gives inspirational examples of crap you already knew, but really just needed someone else to say, so it could sink in!

Simple things like provisioning plenty of bug spray, taking junk out of boxes BEFORE you take it to the boat, and not buying junk in the first place.

This is a country boy approach to retirement! Spend less, save more. Simple as can be! Even if you have no desire to ever touch a boat, this book is worth reading. But if you are interested in living without any cares... Robinson covers the step by step details that you may not have thought about. Things like getting rid of furniture, pictures, dishes.... Pretty much all of it! But that’s the secret and the point.

Robinson covers many aspects of living on a boat, and that makes me laugh as well. Things like planning ahead when provisioning. It is certainly a good idea to plan ahead when you live afloat, ya can’t just run back to Walmart. I laugh at this thought, because it’s pretty much like living in the country! You have to be a bit self sufficient.

I have had Ed Robinson on my Facebook for over a year, but never read Leap of Faith. I don’t know why.... Just never got around to it I guess. And to be perfectly honest, I only read it because I wanted to read his second book, Poop, Booze and Bikinis. But I am certainly glad I read the book, and I will likely read it again. But for now, Ed has me thinking I need to box some shit up and get rid of it!

You can pick both books up on Amazon for just a few bucks each. Heck, they are cheaper than the Red Box movie I forgot to return for a week.... So give them a read and let me know what you think!